There has been a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on at the LADOT Bike Program over the last few months. LADOT Bike Blog would like to introduce you to some of the fresh faces helping make it happen. Working under funding secured for “Student Professional Workers”, the LADOT Bike Program currently employs 4 part-time Assistant Coordinators who also attended graduate school in Urban Planning. These are the shock troops of culture change at LADOT, and we’re very proud of the work they’ve done to date. LADOT Bike Blog would like to give you a little peak into their world and the upcoming projects each of them are working on.

The Assisstant Coordinators with the original "Give Me 3" poster

Brendan Keeler

Brendan is a 2nd year Masters of Urban Planning student at USC concentrating in Transportation Planning.

Brendan has devised a system to identify and catalog every bicycle parking rack in the City of Los Angeles, a system which will be utilized shortly when the LADOT Bike Program embarks on a City-wide inventory of bicycle racks. Not only will this system provide valuable information on the condition of all existing bicycle racks, but it will also help the department identify areas that may have unmet bicycle parking demand.

Brendan is also working on a project proposal to include way-finding signage on all Bicycle Friendly Streets in the new LA Bike Plan. One of the biggest criticisms of a network of Bicycle Friendly Streets is that cyclists will neither know that the BFS’s exist or know when to turn off of a BFS to reach a destination on an arterial. By introducing large and informative way-finding signs (like those found in Chicago), we can begin to make our BFS’s truly bicycle friendly.

Oliver Hou

Another 2nd year Master in Urban Planning student at USC, Oliver is also pursuing a concentration in Transportation Planning. Oliver has been working on many projects, though bicycle parking has featured prominently among them.

Oliver is working with the Bureau of Engineering (BOE) to standardize plans for new bicycle parking racks in Los Angeles. Not content with regular parking racks, all new LADOT bike racks will contain additional security elements to make bicycle theft even more difficult. Oliver also oversees the installation of all new bicycle parking racks, with the department averaging almost 100 new racks installed every month. To continue the parking-theme, Oliver is also working on a Metro “Call For Projects” application to fund a bicycle corral pilot program which will install corrals throughout the City.

But in addition to his parking work, Oliver has also taken the lead on the LADOT Bike Program test Sharrows study. In before-and-after installation studies, the Bike Program videotaped test riders from both the front and the back traveling at a distance that would place them astride a Sharrow. Oliver has dutifully waded through hours of video to catalog and index every bicyclist interaction with a passing car. No previous study on Sharrows has to date accumulated data this detailed. This data will be the driving force behind the forthcoming report on the test Sharrows, due to be delivered to Council early this year.

Emily Dwyer

Emily is a 1st year Masters of Urban Planning student at USC with a concentration in Sustainable Land Use. The newest assistant coordinator on the team, Emily first worked on the newest draft of the LA Bike Plan as an intern in the City Planning department. Emily also doubles as the in-house GIS expert for the Bike Program.

In addition to her GIS duties, Emily is working on gathering information and arguments for a possible 3 foot passing law soon to be brought before the California Assembly. Emily is also plumbing the depths of possible new sources of funding for bicycle infrastructure in order for the Bike Program to keep up with the aggressive construction goals set by the new LA Bike Plan. Finally, Emily is putting together a “Call For Projects” application which would fund innovative outreach approaches in communities where a Bicycle Friendly Street is called for in the new Bike Plan.

Christopher Kidd

Christopher Kidd is a 2nd year Master in Urban Planning student at USC, though you may know him better as LADOT Bike Blog. He also is concentrating in Sustainable Land Use Planning.

Christopher started his blogging career in Oakland where he moonlighted as an occasional contributor for the local politics blog A Better Oakland and New Ballpark, a blog following the developments of the Oakland A’s search for a new baseball venue. Other than running the LADOT Bike Blog, the LADOT Bike Program Facebook page & twitter feed, and the BikeBlogChris twitter feed, Christopher engages in a lot of behind-the-scenes operations. Whether it is coordinating for test Sharrows studies, volunteering as a guinea pig for roadway experiments, assisting in organizing public events, covering public hearings and Bicycle Advisory Committee meetings, or interfacing with the public and the advocacy community, Christopher is dedicated to improving public outreach and discourse at LADOT.

More New Arrivals

Besides the 4 Assistant Coordinators at the LADOT Bike Program, we’re welcoming a new full-time coordinator as well as four new graduate student interns. We hope to fill you in on all of their exciting new projects in the near future.